NEW YORK: Fifty-five-year-old Richard Milhous Nixon has staged a dramatic political comeback to become the 37th President of the United States. Eight years ago he missed the Presidency losing to John Kennedy by a mere 118,000 votes out of 64 million votes cast. This year he won but by the narrowest margin in US history after a cliff-hanging night of political suspense which caused most Americans a sleepless night.

President-elect Nixon, however, failed to get a clear national mandate. He also did badly among the Negroes who voted nine to one for Humphrey. The labour backed the Democrats by almost two to one and the big cities voted overwhelmingly for Mr Humphrey. It was being asked how Mr Nixon would tackle the questions of race, urban crisis and inflation while his showing was so poor among the people who are involved in these problems.

Mr Nixon built his winning margin on the strength of his massive support in the rural and suburban areas as well as in small towns. No doubt he profited immensely by the widespread discontent in the nation caused by the Viet-Nam and domestic conflicts. A troubled and bewildered America voted the Democrats out of power after eight years in office, but in a reluctant manner.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2018